Akbar Bugti Killed In Commando Operation
Aug 26, 2006, 13:33
Source:
http://www.pakistaniforces.com/news/publish/article27.php
Twenty security force members and more than two dozen tribal insurgents were killed in heavy fighting near a rebel chieftain's hideout in southwest Pakistan, officials said overnight.
Finding out what was the exact number of insurgents killed, its said to be about 30.
Gunbattles erupted near Dera Bugti town in restive Baluchistan province, close to where tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti is sheltering, security officials said.
"Around twenty members of the security forces and more than two dozen militants have been killed," one security official said.
Asked if Mr Bugti was among the dead, the official added: "We are not very sure."
However according to some reports it suggests that Akbar Bagti, a terrorist, has been killed along with his two grandsons.
Baluchistan has been rocked by a near two-year insurgency blamed on autonomy-seeking tribesmen who also want a greater share of the gas-rich province's natural resources.
Officials say hundreds of people have died in the unrest that erupted in late 2004, which has seen a series of attacks on gas pipelines, railway tracks and government installations.
British-educated tribal leader Mr Bugti, who is in his 80s, fled his stronghold in Dera Bugti earlier this year after a crackdown by the Pakistani military.
The clampdown was sparked by a rocket attack during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf to Baluchistan in December.
Mr Bugti gave an interview earlier this year from his hideout in the craggy mountains surrounding Dera Bugti in which he pledged to continue his resistance and accused the military of killing civilians.
